Repeal of IPC through BNS, 2023 : Legal Effect Answered
In a recent case [Nagani Akram Mohammad Shafi v. Union of India [2025] GCtR 1333 (Bombay)], it was held that Schedule under PMLA, 2002 continues to remain operational and meaningful, even after the IPC has been repealed, because the legal mechanism of legislation by reference ensures continuity by treating references as living and dynamic, not static or frozen in time.
The question in this case was whether the references made in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 to the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, stand vitiated or rendered ineffective by virtue of the repeal of those enactments through the coming into force of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS).